Tell-all book and Nazi graffiti scandal reignite calls for answers

FORMER South Pembrokeshire MP Simon Hart is facing mounting criticism over his appointment to the House of Lords—amid fresh outrage over his decision to publish a revealing political memoir and lingering questions about the “swastika saga” involving defaced campaign material once in his own possession.

Hart, who was MP for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire from 2010 until he stood down last year, appeared on Rishi Sunak’s resignation honours list and is now set to take a seat in the Lords. But his peerage has sparked anger from senior Conservatives, who say Hart breached trust by publishing ‘Ungovernable: The Political Diaries of a Chief Whip’, which contains personal and salacious anecdotes about MPs who confided in him while he held one of the most sensitive roles in government.

The Herald understands that at least one sitting Tory MP wrote to the House of Lords Appointments Commission (HOLAC) in an attempt to block the nomination, arguing Hart had violated the Nolan Principles—guidelines designed to maintain integrity in public life.

In the book, Hart recounts incidents involving MPs caught in compromising situations, including one who allegedly called the whips’ office for help after becoming stranded in a brothel. Critics say the publication undermines the confidential nature of the whips’ office, which exists partly to offer pastoral support to MPs during times of personal crisis.

Former defence minister Sir Alec Shelbrooke branded the book “appalling” and said it risked breaking the trust that Parliament depends on: “If MPs can’t trust the whips, the system will break down,” he said.

But questions about Hart’s judgement don’t stop there.

Back in 2019, The Pembrokeshire Herald revealed that Hart had shared an image of a defaced campaign poster—infamously bearing the phrase “WILL STARVE YOUR NAN AND STEAL HER HOUSE!”—which had been further altered with Nazi swastikas at some point between its original appearance in 2017 and its reappearance two years later during Hart’s re-election campaign.

Mr Hart had kept the already-defaced poster in his personal possession during that time, and critics pointed out that the two swastikas—absent from the original image—were added while the sign was no longer in public display. Hart refused to explain the additions, dismissing questions from the Herald as “totally outrageous” and claiming it was political mischief by opponents.

Local campaigner Jim Scott, who spotted the differences between the 2017 and 2019 images, asked: “Who had access to the sign in those two years? And why were the swastikas added later?”

The incident caused national embarrassment and raised eyebrows in Westminster, especially as Hart leveraged the graffiti controversy to campaign for civility in politics and even secured a seat on the parliamentary Standards in Public Life Committee on the back of it.

Despite these controversies—and his refusal to address them publicly—Hart has now been rewarded with a life peerage.

One former Tory MP told the BBC: “You’d expect a chief whip to get a peerage, but doing so after publishing a book like that? It’s very odd.”

Hart has not responded to requests for comment from The Pembrokeshire Herald this week. His publisher, Pan Macmillan, also declined to issue a statement.

Campaigner Jim Scott said: “As if it wasn’t a bad enough indictment on our ‘so called’ democracy in the UK that we still have an unelected second chamber in Westminster which wields huge legislative power.

“What does it say about the British establishment and our political systems as a whole that a former MP who drew Swastikas on his own election boards purely to get attention is then rewarded with a peerage to this archaic institution.”

“The House of Lords should be scrapped and replaced with a democratic and representative alternative.

“As should the corrupt process of awarding positions solely based on the favours they have earned to their respective political Parties.

“Hart may well know ‘where the bodies are buried’ within the Tory party but this is arguably a terrible reason to give this morally reprehensible person more power within any British institutions.”

“To date, Hart has never offered a rational explanation as to how the Swastikas appeared on his own election boards, surely this matter should be satisfactorily resolved before any such position was granted”

Meanwhile, former immigration minister Kevin Foster labelled Sunak’s honours list “a reward for failure,” describing it as “a list of Sunak’s mates.”

The Herald stands by its original reporting on the swastika poster and continues to invite Mr Hart to offer a full and credible public explanation.